ROME – The high cost of living is causing widespread strikes, protests and complaints. Discussion of nuclear weapons has added to anxiety and encouraged some to demand swift negotiations. And Russian President Vladimir V. Putin is attracting politicians, including many from right- and left-wing populist parties, who have flirted with him in the past.
But while Mr. Putin may have bet on European fatigue and intolerance for the difficulty to split the alliance and constrain its weakest members, more than eight months after Russia’s war in In Ukraine, the scale of the challenges has been effectively used by leaders to heighten public tension. spine and Europe are holding firm.
Despite some outcry and shouting, governments across ideology and continent – in Western and Eastern Europe, in the Baltics and along the Mediterranean – maintained support for Ukraine and tough sanctions against Russia.
While recent polls show a slight drop in popular support for Ukraine across Europe, support remains strong and the leaders of Germany, France and Italy – the three largest countries of the continent – seemingly insulated from external and internal pressures. because they all had recent elections.
Many analysts believe the commitment will last as long as the US keeps the limitBut Tuesday’s Republican midterm election gains, some of whom have questioned the cost of the war, could alter those expectations.
